Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Dec 5.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Pharm. 2011 Oct 7;8(6):2021–2031. doi: 10.1021/mp200329f

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Modification of lysines in histone tails. DNA is wound around four core histone proteins: H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. Each of the histones possess lysine-rich tails and accessibility of the DNA is controlled by modifications to the tail. Lysines can either be multiply methylated or acetylated. Methylation and deacetylation of lysines both contribute to a more condensed chromatin structure, preventing transcription of genes. Demethylation and acetylation promote a more open chromatin structure allowing for increased gene transcription.